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Two Indian air force commandos and two rebels were killed on Wednesday in a fierce gunbattle in the disputed region of Kashmir, officials said. Soldiers began an anti-militant operation by cordoning off northern Hajin town on a tip that rebels were hiding in the area, said Col. Rajesh Kalia, an Indian army spokesman. He said the deaths occurred in the ensuing intense fighting. Street clashes erupted in Hajin shortly after the fighting ended as hundreds of residents demanded an end to Indian rule in Kashmir. Government forces fired tear gas and shotgun pellets to quell the rock-throwing protesters. Protesters later marched in the town carrying the body of one of the dead militants.